Father of Southport killer says son beat him up and threatened to murder him

A person outside Liverpool Crown Court where the sentencing of Axel Rudakubana took place earlier this year after he admitted the murders of three girls at a dance class in Southport. Photo / Getty Images

The father of a teenager who murdered three young girls told a British inquiry today that his son beat him up, had frequent frightening outbursts and threatened to kill him.

Axel Rudakubana was jailed for life in January for stabbing the girls to death last year in a rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the northwest town of Southport.

The murders triggered Britain’s worst riots in decades.

Alphonse Rudakubana, who fled Rwanda to settle in Britain after living through the 1994 genocide, said his “beautiful boy” changed when he was expelled from school in 2019 after admitting to carrying a knife.

“He used to beat me up,” he told the inquiry, probing the events surrounding the July 2024 killings.

Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and 9-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar died in the stabbing spree, carried out when Rudakubana was still 17.

Speaking to the inquiry from an undisclosed remote location, Alphonse Rudakubana said his son had violent “outbursts” which could happen twice a day.

“It was much much more than when he was in fulltime education.”

In one incident, Rudakubana said his son poured oil over his head.

Rudakubana said Axel then poked his chest and said: “‘If you get me out of here, this house, it may take a day, it may take a week, maybe a month, maybe years, I will kill you and trust me I will kill you’.

“He looked serious at me and actually it was quite frightening for me.”

Rudakubana said he or his wife reported some incidents to the authorities, such as his son’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services team, but not all.

When asked why, he said he was worried his son would be taken away from him.

Earlier, Axel’s brother Dion said his father told him to be “careful” around his younger brother days before the attack.

The inquiry, which can compel witnesses to give evidence, is chaired by a retired senior judge. Its recommendations are not legally binding, but may impact future policy.

-Agence France-Presse